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| Benazir aides, appointees replaced |
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| Wednesday, December 24, 2008 By By Faizan Bangash |
| LAHORE THE first year of the Asif Zardari led PPP remained full of shocking surprises for the party workers as the incumbent leadership bade farewell to several close aides of Benazir Bhutto by replacing them with new faces. Most of the senior PPP leaders who often acted as policy makers in the party and remained in the closest circle of slain party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto till December 27, 2007, were either made back benchers or removed from the posts on which they were appointed by BB. Nevertheless, the party Co Chairman Asif Ali Zardari has managed to keep the party intact so far and no rebellion within the party ranks has been witnessed since one year of Benazir Bhutto's assassination. A view of PPP after one year of BB's assignation tells that party leaders including Naheed Khan and Dr Safdar Abbassi, who were the closest aides of Benazir Bhutto mostly, remained away from the political scene and had no role in addressing the grievances of Jialas. Particularly Naheed Khan, who remained associated with Benazir for almost two decades, was least seen on the political scene. Her husband, Dr Safdar Abbassi, who is also a Senator and belongs to a very respected family of Larkana, quite close to Bhuttos, was also not seen playing any role in the party's decision making. Much to the surprise of the party workers, Munawwar Abbassi, the elder brother of Dr Safdar Abbassi was also not inducted in the Sindh cabinet for unknown reasons. This is noteworthy that this was the family, which not only remained in the closest circles of Benazir Bhutto but even that of party founder, Zulifkar Ali Bhutto. Having put these figures on back seats, PPP leadership raised several doubts within the party ranks. Malik, a staunch party worker of PPP from Rawalpindi and the witness of October 18, Karsaz and December 27, Liaquat Bagh tragedies said in form of Benazir, we not only lost a mother but several others who always kept the party alive among the workers. In the same province of Sindh, another important family, Talpurs from Khairpur, are also serving as backbenchers in the party despite their long relations with Bhuttos. Former federal minister and now an MNA, Yousaf Talpur, who was also one of the closest aides of BB wasn't even inducted in the cabinet this time, surely, the cabinet where workers are seeing the new faces in the form of Rehman Malik, Farooq H Naek and Sherry Rehman, the ministers who never had to contest any general election to get the key ministries. Ghani Talpur, the brother of Yousaf is also an MNA. Similarly, Taimur Talpur, another scion of Talpurs and an MPA is not the part of provincial cabinet of Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah. The party workers, not only from Hala, Sindh but the entire country were surprised when Makhdoom Amin Fahim, one of the closest aides of slain party leader wasn't nominated for the slot of prime minister and fortune favoured Yousaf Raza Gillani. The nomination of Yousaf in March as the candidate for prime ministership raised several questions in the beginning, particularly among the people from Sindh who were just feeling further deprived from their right after losing another Bhutto. However, the party co chairman managed to handle this situation quite well in September when it was Presidency, not the PM House where Asif Ali Zardari from Sindh took oath and it echoed with the slogans of 'Jiyay Bhutto'. Former defence minister of Benazir Bhutto's 193 cabinet, Aftab Shahban Mirani managed to make his way to the Parliament, however, like other close aides, he is also not on the forefront. Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, the former Interior minister in 1988 and also a cabinet member of 1993 PPP government is still out the party scene. Apparently, his ways are also parted with the incumbent PPP leadership with his firm commitment for the restoration of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry. Aitzaz was one of the closest aides of Benazir Bhutto. Situation in Punjab also gave some shocking surprises to the Jialas. Apart from the joining of PPP by Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo and his induction as an advisor in federal cabinet, the nomination of Salman Taseer as Punjab Governor also raised several eyebrows within the party ranks and the coalition partner, PML-N, also tried its best to fan the flames by terming the appointment as controversial. Several party figures from Punjab including PPP General Secretary Jehangir Badr were not considered for the slot and once a PPP member but a minister in the caretaker cabinet of Pervez Musharraf in near past, Salman Taseer was appointed Punjab Governor. Nevertheless, the party workers later hailed the appointment as they found the Governor's House the best shield to counter their coalition partner cum rival PML-N in the province. Moreover, there were also some changes in the party's Punjab organisations which raised many eyebrows within the party's cadres. One of the vibrant Jialas of PPP and party's Punjab General Secretary, Chaudhry Ghulam Abbas was replaced by PPP Lahore General Secretary Sami Ullah Khan. This overnight change was quite unexpected for the party ranks as under the general secretaryship of Ghulam Abbas, PPP somehow managed to give a comparatively better result than past by winning over 100 seats. Although Ghulam Abbas lost the general election even after bagging over 55000 votes, the performance of party under his leadership was better. Ghulam Abbas has also served as MPA in 1993 and have been one of the pioneer party figure from Sialkot. Interestingly, he was replaced by Sami who served as the Lahore General Secretary where the party could not win even two provincial seats out of 25. Sami Ullah, a former MPA and a very vocal member of the Punjab Assembly, managed to get over 16,000 votes but lost the polls. The party ranks were perplexed about this change, which the leadership said was made based on performance. Moreover, PPP Punjab Additional General Secretary and former MPA, Abdul Qadir Shaheen was replaced by Hasnat Shah, the runner up on an NA seat from Lahore. Not only this, most of the BB appointees of the central secretariat in Islamabad including Ibne Rizvi and other worker, who remained associated with the party office since 1993 and was appointed by Benazir Bhutto were removed from the office and replaced by new ones. |
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N A D E E M M A L I K
Director Programme
AAJ TV
ISLAMABAD
00-92-321-5117511
nadeem.malik@hotmail.com
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